Cyborg Cities and Urban Resilience

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How can we engage with the dynamic and boundary-breaking role of technology and infrastructure in the Cyborg City within the context of global city region resilience? Cities have long embodied cyborg attributes with their complex interplay of socio-political, physical and digital infrastructures. Yet despite scholarly recognition of the fluid and constantly changing human-technology interface in 'big infrastructure' cyborg debates (smart grids, smart meters, public Wifi, national broadband networks and 'big data'), policy and industry commentary on cyborg relations places clear demarcations between the social and the technical. Bringing an understanding of this dynamism and tension to contemporary city and infrastructure debates is critical if we are to understand, prepare for and develop new relations and adaptations in the cyborg city, particularly when systems are threatened or break down.

Linking the work of the UCL City Leadership Initiative on urban strategies and governance with the investigations on cyborg cities and resilience at RMIT University's Centre for Urban Research (CUR) and Global Cities Research Institute (GCRI), the event will bring together experts to foster a critical debate about the cyborg dimensions of the contemporary city. The workshop, taking place over a day of activities, includes a keynote debate with Prof Stephen Graham from Newcastle University, and roundtables of scholars engaged in the theme and practitioners from industry, community and local government experts, followed by a panel of innovative early career researchers.

The studio is hosted by the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) at University College London, and the Centre for Urban Research (CUR) and the Global Cities Research Institute at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia.